by Paul Semendinger
August 15, 2023
***
The Yankees scored one run in the first inning. They scored one run in the second inning. They scored a run in the ninth inning.
But...
The Braves scored one run in the first inning, three runs in the second inning, four runs in the third inning, one run in the sixth, and two in the eighth and won, handily, 11-3.
OUCH.
Quick Stats:
Clarke Schmidt (it was said) was looking forward to this start. He lasted 2.1 innings. He gave up 9 hits and 8 runs.
IKF went 3-for-4
Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .205 for the year
The Yankees had 11 hits. (It didn't matter.)
Albert Abreu - 3 innings, 4 runs, 3 earned
The Yankees are now 2 1/2 games behind the Red Sox and are comfortably in last place.
Big Story:
What more is there to say? The Yankees lose in crushing fashion. They lose in decisive fashion. They lose and they lose some more. The Yankees rarely find ways to win. They seem to always find ways to lose. They're bad. They've been bad for a long time.
They Yankees lose in many ways. Last night, they simply got clobbered.
Last night they also made another base running blunder. Down 8-2 in the 6th inning, Harrison Bader got picked off first base. To be fair, the game was basically lost by then. There were two outs. It was late in the game. Still, we see this, a lot - the Yankees have been picked-off fifth most in the Major Leagues. The Yankees are not a sound fundamental team.
Something needs to change.
The Yankees are in last place. And they lose more and more frequently.
Player(s) of the Game:
Anthony Volpe - had two extra base hits. They were the only extra base hits the Yankees had in the entire game.
Notable Performances:
Give credit to any Yankees fan who sat through this latest embarrassment.
Better to Forget:
Since, July 1, 2023 the Yankees are 15-23. That is horrendous.
There are now 16 teams in the MLB with better records than the 2023 Yankees.
Including the post season, the Yankees are 106-108 since June 30 of last year.
In 1990, the last time the Yankees finished in last place, they were supposed to be bad. The 2023 Yankees were supposed to be good. They aren't. They have not been good for a long time.
My Take:
Clarke Schmidt, it was said, grew up rooting for the Braves. Well, maybe he was overwhelmed by pitching against them. He got shelled. He had his worst start of the year. The Yankees got crushed.
It's one thing to have a bad team. It's another to hear the manager tell everyone how good the team is night after night. "We know what we have to do," he often says. Yet, they don't do it. And he doesn't have an answer or a solution.
The Yankees need to shut down Aaron Judge and allow him to get the rest and/or medical attention (surgery?) he needs. All of the moves they make need to focused on next year, not this year.
There is no reason, none, to chase the phantom last wild card spot. It's over. The 2023 debacle is over.
It is time, it is beyond time, for the Yankees' owner to make a bold statement. They Yankees are out of it. It's done. It is over. (Maybe if I repeat this enough times, the Yankees will realize the one very clear fact staring them in the face.)
We saw this coming months, even years, before it all fell apart. How could we see what was so obvious, but the people running the Yankees couldn't?
The Yankees are on the wrong path. They have been on the wrong path for a long time.
The Yankees need to begin to plan for next year. The only way to see if the young kids are ready for the big leagues is to play them. It's time to bring in a manager, not some guy out of the broadcast booth, but a person with real leadership experience, to run and change the way this team plays on a day-to-day basis.
It's time for a new general manager to bring a new approach to the way the team is built.
Each day that these things don't happen are days lost that can never be recaptured.
By not acting, decisively, now, Hal Steinbrenner is saying, loudly, "This is all okay." It's not. A well-run organization would have been exploring options for the manager and general manager positions for a while now. It was clear that the team was heading for a disaster.
The fans might still be coming to games in 2023, but soon, if the Yankees continue to play as they have, the stadium will be empty. I talk to tons of fans. From my perspective, the Yankees fan base has never, at least in my lifetime, been so turned-off by so much. The franchise is in crisis. Does Hal Steinbrenner understand this?
The once mighty Yankees are further away from being a good team than at any point since 1990. Change is needed - not in October, but now.
Next Up:
The Yankees play the Braves again tonight. Luis Severino, a shell of himself, will take the mound. The game begins at 7:20 p.m.
